Class Action Opening Day

Join the DC History Center for grand opening of our new exhibit: Class Action: Education and Opportunity in the Nation’s Capital. The exhibit opens to the public Saturday, June 28. From 2 to 6 pm, you can:

📚 Be among the first to explore the exhibit.
🗣️ Chat with the folks who made it happen.
🎯 Play classic recess games (for kids and grown-ups!)
🎨 Design your own button.
🛍️ Shop the revamped DC History Center store.
📸 Take home duplicate copies from the Capitol Photo Service collection (with a suggested donation).
📢 Help us spread the word—history class has never been this fun!
Bring your curiosity, your friends, and your love for DC history—we’ll bring the celebration!

ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
Class Action: Education and Opportunity in the Nation’s Capital features stories of dedicated teachers, school leaders, parents, students, and activists who have worked to protect and strengthen DC’s tradition of Black educational excellence. Class photos and yearbooks along with playful vintage furniture and costumes invite hands-on exploration of what it means to grow up and go to school in the nation’s capital.

Community members built and ran their own schools until the end of slavery, when Congress created DC’s separate Black school system. Over the course of the next century, racism prevented many African American scholars from pursuing their chosen careers. Instead, they became teachers in the nation’s capital, helping the city earn a national reputation for its outstanding Black schools.

The exhibit also highlights Black Washingtonians’ fight for their fair share of resources, even after the Supreme Court finally desegregated DC’s “separate but equal” schools. The stories of people who lived this history, along with class photos, yearbooks, and more, are evidence of how local activism created lasting change.

Class Action invites you to explore this inspiring legacy—and to reflect on how schools have shaped you and your community, wherever you’re from.

EXHIBIT HOURS
Class Action is the DC History Center’s first major exhibition since 2019, on display through 2030. The exhibit is free and open to the public. Regular exhibit hours will be Thursday-Sunday from 12 pm to 6 pm.

THANK YOU TO OUR EXHIBIT SPONSORS
Class Action: Education and Opportunity in the Nation’s Capital is made possible thanks to the District of Columbia Executive Office of the Mayor–Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development; the Institute for Museum and Library Services; Events DC; the Kiplinger Family Foundation; and the Julie B. Koczela Exhibit Fund.

June 28, 2025
2:00 pm–6:00 pm